Lutheran North has suspended head football coach Kyle Wagner for the final three games of the regular season along with the first round of the district playoffs.
In a statement, Lutheran North indicated it 鈥渦nintentionally violated Missouri State High School Activities Association by-laws on participation in summer activities.鈥
鈥淟utheran North High School has self-imposed a penalty for a violation of our MSHSAA by-laws,鈥 MSHSAA director of communications Andrew Kauffman said in a statement. 鈥淭he school has been cooperative during the process and takes its commitment to its membership seriously.鈥
Wagner stood by the statement sent by Lutheran North and declined further comment.
North鈥檚 statement also said head of school Tim Brackman and athletics Director James Mitchell will face MSHSAA reprimands in wake of the summer activities infraction.
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鈥淓ven though the violations only occurred during the summer, MSHSAA considered whether to declare the entire Lutheran North football ineligible to participate in the 2024 postseason,鈥 Lutheran North鈥檚 statement continued. 鈥淲e have been (up front) about what took place and how we will improve in the future. At the same time, we advocated with MSHSAA that a postseason ban was not appropriate.鈥
Lutheran North (5-1) is scheduled to play Maryville (4-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Chillicothe before concluding the regular season with games Oct. 18 at Lutheran St. Charles (2-4) and Oct. 25 at Cardinal Ritter (5-0).
In its statement, Lutheran North confirmed its football team will be eligible for the postseason.
鈥淥ur top priority ... has been to preserve the postseason for our student-athletes who would have otherwise been innocently affected,鈥 the statement said.
鈥淲e must be clear, this suspension does not mean that MSHSAA found fault with the head coach,鈥 the statement continued. 鈥淎s we work to improve and avoid such circumstances in the future, the (Lutheran North) administration will engage in detailed discussions, both internally and with support from others to ensure a complete knowledge and implementation of all MSHSAA requirements.鈥
Wagner has been head coach of the Crusaders since 2021 and has a 30-12 record, which includes last season鈥檚 11-2 campaign that reached the Class 4 state semifinals.
Previously, Wagner was offensive coordinator when the Crusaders won the Class 2 state championship in 2019 and was defensive coordinator for the Crusaders during state semifinal runs in 2017 and 2018.
Wagner also was head coach at Ritenour for the 2021 spring season that was played during the COVID-19 pandemic before returning to North as head coach when Carl Reed left to become head coach at De Smet.